it helps that Brown is getting more ice time in Ottawa than he got in Toronto. In Toronto he averaged 11-12 minutes, in Ottawa he averaged 15-16 minutes.
2020-21 Maple Leafs Thread
- Thread starter gcostanza
- Start date
just imagine if the senators did not blow the 2020 off-season (post draft) they may have been a playoff team or damn near it.
they did a great job of prospect building the team up to the summer of 2020 and it showed in the second half of the season. But the “veteran” moves they did were really terrible — dadynov, Murray, Stepan. Then adding a modern day tough guy squad of gudbranson, paquette, Watson, Haley and Brown.
once they all basically went away the team really hit its stride.
building up young assets is not easy. But I would argue it’s often easier then putting the finishing touches around the young core.
Ottawa didn’t blow too many assets last year in acquiring those pieces, but they did blow a lot of salary space which could be an issue as Melnyk may never spend to the cap.
pierre needs to do better next off-season because he had a great core. It would be a shame for them to blow it because he struggled finishing the team off. That being said this summer is not crucial either, but wasting assets and cap space again would not be god.
Wouldn’t want to be like that other team down the 401 who has amazing pieces and yet has still not win a playoff series.
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Brady played quite dirty for the first 10 games of the year. It seemed with the talentless tough guys around him at the time he was focused more on being edgy than normal.
Eventually he calmed down as they left the sens. He’s a great player.
Tkachuk read Marner perfectly and picked off that drop pass resulted in the OT winner. The worst game by Marner in a while finished with a minus 3. But that's 3 on 3 OT, players take those risks but don't do it in the playoffs.
This goes against Smuddan's proof of more gudbranson, paquette, Watson, Haley and Brown means more winning.
Come on man, they're playing not to get injured before the playoff starts. Way too casual. Their skill got them the point. I don't think Andersen played all that well either but give him some slack. His first NHL game in 2 months or so. Hutton though showed he should be the reserve next man up. This year's Marincin if you will. Should be Sandin/Dermott to start until Bogosian gets back.
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Although your assumption about increased ice time is correct your times are off.
Connor Brown averaged 18 min per game this year whereas is first three years with the Leafs he averaged about 15 min per game and then a slight drop off to about 14 min his last year.
What made a big difference for Brown this year was his excellent career high shooting percentage of 17%. Which surprises me because he hit a lot of posts and was victimized by outstanding's saves a lot in the first half of the season.
Going to disagree with you if I may. Braydon Coburn, Erik Gudbrunson and Mike Reilly were all necessary stop gaps until there younger less experienced D players could be eased in. Erik Brannstrom wasn't ready for prime time and they weren't quite sure if former KHL D man Artem Zub was NHL calibre. The guy who really surprised was Victor Mete. Many thanks to Marc Bergevin....
They brought in a lot of these guys to give veteran presence in the room. Guys like Cederic Paquette and Derek Stepan. They were never meant to be there past this year anyways. Young guys like Vitaly Abramov and Logan Brown could hone their skills in the AHL. Formenton, Norris and Batherson are their future. No use rushing then having them play major minutes early in their careers.
The Sens major problem early was defensive zone coverage and terrible net minding. Once Matt Murray went down and Joey Daccord/Anton Forsberg/ Filip Gustavsson got playing time and played extremely well things started to significantly improve. The Murray contract looks like a bad one right now. Maybe we get lucky and the kraken wants a veteran goalie. Let's hope.
Just because I like to have chili pepper on my burger it doesn’t mean I want a burger full of chili pepper. Why is it so hard for you to gasp that concept which even a 10 year old would have no problems to comprehend ?
Nylander gets an A+ rating from PPP
https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/...inal-grades-are-in-regular-season-report-card
https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/...inal-grades-are-in-regular-season-report-card
Ottawa game on the Tavares goal starting at 5:16 you'll see Nylander go directly to front of net and fight for position. He's the one who is engaging here. With his elite skating he's first to retrieve the puck and the first to get back to the front of the net for any rebounds.
This is the way Nylander plays. He doesn't get net front goals by fluke. "Good for him" indeed.
For those who don't see the value in zone entries and skill this is how goals are produced. Gain entry and make plays.
The reason why more goals aren't scored with the likes of Micky and Engvall is because the plays die on their sticks. Same for Marincin.
This is the way Nylander plays. He doesn't get net front goals by fluke. "Good for him" indeed.
For those who don't see the value in zone entries and skill this is how goals are produced. Gain entry and make plays.
The reason why more goals aren't scored with the likes of Micky and Engvall is because the plays die on their sticks. Same for Marincin.
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i don’t disagree that the sens needed some veteran insulation to start the year. I think we both agree on that and Murray being an issue.
my issue was the way they went about it:
1) No issues with using cap space and good assets (2nd rounders or better, although 2nds can be overrated) to get a few veterans. But all those moves were misses. Murray, Dadovov and Stepan. The interesting thing with Stepan is teams were adding fillers to get rid of salary of players at that level. And the Sens actually traded a 2nd for a nearly burnt overpaid player. They could have got players at that level and teams would have thrown in a third minimum.
2) the overkill on tough players and size. Did they really need two similar players on the blue line like Gudbranson and Brown. For example a Reilly type who was actually acquired for cheaper a year earlier would have been fine. But then they went further with paquetre, Watson and Haley as well to start the year. Way too many of them to start the year.
Will they cancel the Leafs-Jets game tonight ? From ppp.com :
“Greyhound Bus Lines have just announce that they’re shutting down all inter-Canadian routes. That means the popular Toronto-Sudbury-Thunder Bay-Winnipeg route is no longer in operation. “How does this affect the Maple Leafs?” you ask? Well this route was the Leafs only way to get to their games in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg famously doesn’t have an airport, planes can’t take off or land due to the huge amounts of blackflies constantly hovering over the city, and the only VIA train route into the game doesn’t run on Fridays because CP Rail has right of way on all train lines and they use Fridays to drag race the locomotives.”
‘Personally I don’t mind it being cancelled. This game serves no purpose other padding personal stats (maybe as a rehab game for players coming back from injuries) but risks unnecessary injuries for both teams heading into the playoffs against different opponents.
“Greyhound Bus Lines have just announce that they’re shutting down all inter-Canadian routes. That means the popular Toronto-Sudbury-Thunder Bay-Winnipeg route is no longer in operation. “How does this affect the Maple Leafs?” you ask? Well this route was the Leafs only way to get to their games in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg famously doesn’t have an airport, planes can’t take off or land due to the huge amounts of blackflies constantly hovering over the city, and the only VIA train route into the game doesn’t run on Fridays because CP Rail has right of way on all train lines and they use Fridays to drag race the locomotives.”
‘Personally I don’t mind it being cancelled. This game serves no purpose other padding personal stats (maybe as a rehab game for players coming back from injuries) but risks unnecessary injuries for both teams heading into the playoffs against different opponents.
The Leafs can move into 4th place overall with a win tonight, home-ice advantage means you still get last line change and it could be a big factor during the playoffs.
You know what else they wrote?
About Matthews:
What's A+ times 40? That's Matthews' grade.
You agree with that? Is that an actual grade, or are we bell curving players' grades now?
About Marner:
The eye test says Marner's moved....into a role where he could play top line wing on any hockey team in the world
and be amazing all the time. He's an A+.
He's an A+ and Nylander's an A+, you think that statement applies to Nylander as well?
Muzzin and Brodie got As. You put those two just a small step from Nylander and Marner as well?
About Nylander:
All the talk about how he’s not very good defensively dried up when he started scoring and scoring and scoring, as these news cycles always go.
17 goals, 42 points in 50 games, what a fucking beast!!!
Show me another article that gives Nylander an A+ and I'll make sure not to read it.
Possible reasons for Marner not playing tonight:
He's undersized/too small
He's nursing a minor injury
He's a known quantity, chance for other skaters to get more ice
Even a dropout of McGill Four Seasons Landscaping Technical Institute would know these things.
